Red Bull Racing’s Sergio Perez has set his sights on a driver’s championship victory in 2023 with hopes that greater consistency across the season will allow him to challenge his dominant team-mate Max Verstappen.
Perez discussed how his form hinged on his comfort level with the car throughout the year, which contributed to the highs and lows he faced, and felt that he was performing “at his best” at the season’s end. He hopes that he can carry this momentum into next year in order to tackle new goals.
“I’m constantly working on it. I think it really depends on how comfortable I am at the start of the season with the car, as I was in the beginning of the season, then it slipped away.
“I think as Formula 1 drivers, we are constantly working for new challenges all the time. But I do feel, at this time, I’m pretty much at my best. I really want to carry it on and start next year on a very high [level].”
In spite of the team’s technical problems, Perez had a successful start to the season and kept his points gap to Verstappen quite narrow. It was after two retirements at the Canadian Grand Prix and Austrian Grand Prix that Perez began to slip out of the running points-wise, leaving Verstappen to take off with the lead until the end.
“Certainly, [2022] started really well. [We had] some reliability issues in the beginning, but things were looking on track. We were in the mix for the championship early on.
“I had a couple of bad races that really put me [out of] contention for the championship, so there is some work to do in that regard, together with the team.”
Having ended 2022 third place in the driver’s standings, Perez hopes that he can claim more consistent results across the season and ultimately have the opportunity to battle for the championship given he has a package capable of doing so.
“[We need to] make sure that we can keep that consistency throughout and that we can come back next year and fight for the title, if we were to have a similar level of car for next year.”
